I Will Protect You
by Xxpresso
Summary: AU, Jesse gets kidnapped by Gabriel and he later comes back to attack Mutant X.
1. Missing

I Will Protect You

****

**Disclaimer: **Please note that I have **NEVER **seen Mutant X before. Yes, not even one episode. The timing was wrong and I had something to do at the airing time, so I never even caught a glimpse at it. Yes, the power of Fanfiction fueled my knowledge and interest:D. Song lyrics from "Crash and Burn", Savage Garden. 

**Thank You: **Thanks to my 'frister' who beta'ed this for me 6 times before I had the green light. (It must have been torture!) Thanks to all the Mutant X Fanfiction writers here who so fueled my knowledge and interest including AliasJaneDoe, JillyW, Piper, Villanelle and many more. Please try to ignore mistakes! Or correct me through reviewing:) Thanks!

*****

Brennan could feel the electric surging through his arms into his fingers. He loved the warm feeling and he knew he was home. He threw the current into his opponent and he dropped cold onto the floor of the warehouse. Behind him, he could sense Emma just standing approximately in the middle of the warehouse, not even lifting a finger as she stood motionless projecting images into those who came near her.

            Shalimar on the other hand was full of energy as she flew around the warehouse snarling and kicking. Her lovely eyes had turned a shade of golden and her blond hair was flying out in a cloud of golden locks. Jesse…where was he? Brennan started to scan the warehouse for his friend when he caught a movement out of the corner of his eye.

            Dropping down on the floor, he lashed out a foot turning a 90-degree kick catching his opponent by his ankle, sending him crashing onto the floor. A touch from his fingers sent his familiar into the shocked man on the ground. It was getting quieter around him and he knew this fight was ending soon. The new mutants they were sent out to save was nowhere to be seen, though. Emma was finishing the last man when she saw the mutants – a boy and a girl running out of the warehouse.

            "Hey!" she cried running towards them. Shalimar heard her cry and she leaped over piles of dead and unconscious men to reach her friend who was pursuing the running mutants.

            "Shal!" Brennan called as he ran to catch up with her. "Where's Jesse?"

            Shalimar spared a look towards Brennan. "Why? Wasn't he there?"

            Brennan kept running, not even seeing the fleeing mutants. He just kept his eyes on Emma and followed her wherever she ran. Shalimar was catching up to her and Brennan was soon the last of the three. "Thinking that men could outlast girls," Brennan grumbled as he sped up.

            Emma turned a corner and her boots screeched to a halt. The mutants were nowhere to be seen. "Damn."

            Shalimar turned a corner and yelped as she saw Emma's back. She lashed her feet out feeling them connect to the wall and she ran over them and dropped to her feet in front of Emma. Brennan didn't manage to register the movement and he plowed into Emma's back causing her to stumble and fall onto Shalimar who sprawled ungracefully on the floor.

            The com-link activated almost immediately. "What's going on?" Adam's voice came over.

            "Nothing. Chain reaction," Brennan said.

            "Caused by someone whose name shall remain unspoken about, but we can assure the subject is a clumsy oaf of a male," said Shalimar glaring at Brennan who looked back sheepishly.

            "Jesse? That sounds like something he would do." Adam replied.

            The trio turned and stared at each other. "Jesse."

******

            "I've searched the entire warehouse thrice and covered 2 miles from every direction leading away from it," Shalimar said as she caught up with Emma and Brennan. 

            "Double Helix is still there and it's empty," said Emma worriedly.

            "He's not among the bodies lying around," Brennan added.

            "Where the hell is he?" Shalimar exploded with a mixture of fear and worry.

            "He won't be…you know…" Emma said nervously.

            "Let's not fall to ridiculous conclusions," Brennan ordered. "Adam is still checking his signal."

            Shalimar paced around her two friends. "What if he's hurt? What if he's captured and being tortured right now?"

            Emma placed a cold hand on Shalimar's shoulder. "Shal, he'll be…"

            "I can't track his signal," Adam's voice broke in. "The ring has to be taken out."

            A moment of silence fell onto the three mutants. 

            "Gabriel has him." 

*****

            "I want his memory completely wiped out and I want his fighting skills to be top notch."

            "Sir, his powers?"

            "Wipe his memory of them, and don't train his powers."

            "What will be his relationship, sir?"

            "Relationship?"

            "His belief. That he is your top fighter, your servant…"

            Gabriel's mouth twisted into an evil sneer. "He'll be my son."

*****

TWO MONTHS LATER…

            Emma came out of her room, stretching slightly. Brennan was just closing his door and they both looked at each other, a knowing look. They both diverted their gaze into the far corner of the room whose door was ajar. Shalimar sat in the chair staring at the bed, a lost look in her eyes.

            "It's been two months and she still can't put it down," Emma said quietly.

            "Neither can you," Brennan said softly.

            Emma looked up into his eyes. "Neither can you."

            Brennan put his hands on her shoulder and steered her away from the sight. "We have tried everything possible to track him down. We just have to accept it."

            "Accept what?" Shalimar's voice rang along the corridor. "Accept that he's dead? How can you say that! As long as we don't see his damn body, he's still alive! There's still a hell lot of hope!" Her eyes were flashing golden and Emma hurriedly positioned herself between them.

            "Shal…"

            "How can you give up on him, he's our family! You can't just…"

            "Look at yourself! Everyday you sit staring at the bed, walking like a zombie through every mission you do, insist on tracking Jesse's com ring down although you know damn well that the ring is not with him, I understand that he means a lot to you but sometimes we just have to accept it and move on!" Brennan yelled.

            Shalimar pushed Emma aside, grabbed Brennan's T-shirt and shoved him against the wall, her face so close until she could feel his breath. "Not until I see his dead, cold and lifeless body and try every single medical help to revive him."

            She let go of Brennan and stalked into Jesse's room slamming the door.

            "You alright?" Emma asked.

            Brennan pushed himself of the wall. "I'm heading to the dojo."

            Emma stared at his retreating back. She heard a creak and she turned to see Shalimar at the door. "I'm sorry."

            Emma started towards Shalimar. 

            "It's just that…he means a lot to me, he's my…b-brother…he's my…life. And the thought of n-never seeing him…" Shalimar was already sobbing, her head in her hands as she slid down to the floor, back against the doorjamb. 

            Emma reached Shalimar and enveloped the feral in her arms. "Shhh. Everything will be okay. We'll find him."

            Behind the wall, just against the corner, Brennan felt a betraying tear slide down his cheek and swiped at it angrily. "Don't worry, Jesse. We'll bring you back."

*****

            He felt the familiar surge of adrenaline through his body powering up his senses and heightening his excitement. He was performing solo. For the past month, dad had never let him go solo. He had obviously trusted him with this and he was not going to disappoint him. Dad. Thinking of his father made him frown. 

            He had never understood what was wrong with his dad. He felt that he loved him but many a time he had felt that the love was a forced one. Whatever. Once he completes this mission, his dad will even love him more. Maybe.

            He moved soundlessly to the keypad and he automatically punched in the code he didn't know he knew. One of dad's doctors had helped him remember. He doors slid open silently and he slipped in carefully. He found a corner and crouched into it's shadows activating the device strapped on his wrist that showed him the position of his targets.

            He looked around him. At this place called the Sanctuary. He liked the feeling it gave him, a sense of security. And he knew he shouldn't be feeling it. He snapped out of his reverie and decided to go for the nearest target – the med-bay for someone called Adam Kane. He stood up and with cat-like grace, crossed the hallways and passed corners until he saw his target. 

            He was sitting at a table in front of a computer. He looked tired and sad, his hands sometimes shaking when he bought them up occasionally to wipe his face. 

            Ignoring the tugging on his mind that this was wrong, he opened the door and closed it. The target didn't look up. "What is it?"

            "You can choose to fight or you can choose to surrender. Whatever you do will still result in the same ending. Make up your mind."

            Adam started in his chair. Jesse! He turned around sharply, his eyes falling on Jesse. Dressed in a black t-shirt and loose fitting pants, the boy had hardly changed. 

            "Jesse," Adam whispered. 

            "Stop right there," said Jesse giving no intention that he heard him.

            "Jesse, it's me. Adam."

            "I know who you are. And my name is not Jesse."

            Adam felt cold. "Who are you, then?"

            "I'm Gabriel's son. Dad had specially given me this chance to take revenge on Mutant X."

            "Son?" Adam said incredulously. "He told you that you are his son? Don't you remember anything?"

            "Yes." Said Jesse. "His son."

*****

            Shalimar's enhanced hearing was betraying her. She knew she heard Jesse's voice in the med-bay but she knew for certain that many a time she had mistook it and had worked herself up in a useless frenzy. Instincts were telling her that Jesse was alive and was at the med-bay. But instincts had also failed her for the past 2 months when she had woke up, certain that she heard Jesse's footsteps in the corridor and certain that he was asleep in the empty bed she had stared at for 2 months.

            She delivered another kick at the stimulated agents, trying to ignore the screams in her mind to buck up and go.

            She couldn't. She flew down the steps and began to make her way to the med-bay.

*****

            Adam was fighting a fight that he was sure was never that intense. That alone trying not to hurt Jesse had been hard when he was trying to kill him was even harder. Self-defense was never Adam's strong point and Jesse's fighting skills seemed to be way out of what Shalimar and the rest had taught him. The boy was delivering moves that were fast and smooth, making Adam lash out in defense, returning kicks that he didn't mean too.

            Shalimar was reaching the med-bay and she could smell Jesse's scent, and this time she was sure it was him. She plowed through the door. "Jesse!"

            The interruption caused Jesse's attention to divert, enabling Adam to hit him on his jaw, landing hard on the floor.

            "What are you doing?!" Shalimar shrieked, as she ran to help Jesse up.

            "Shalimar, don't!" Adam yelled.

            Jesse glared up and tried to kick her. Shalimar caught it and stared up unbelievingly at Jesse. "It's me."

            Jesse was struggling to get up, the glare still on his face when he collapsed into her arms. She held him close as her eyes finally looked up to see Adam holding the tranquilizer gun.

*****

            "What's wrong with him?" Emma asked tearfully. "Why wouldn't he recognize us?"

            Jesse lay on the bio bed, deep in a drug-induced sleep as Adam tried to pull of his shirt in an attempt to examine him.

            "I don't know. I can't tell you what happened until I check him over," Adam said patiently, heart still hammering as he recalled what Jesse had called Gabriel. Dad.

            Brennan helped him pulled the T-shirt off and what was awaiting them was not what they expected in a million years. His torso was marred with scars, resembling knife wounds, whip marks and goodness knows what else. When they turned him so they could see his back, it was the same, whip marks crisscrossing his back, overlapping each other.

            "What did they do to him?" Shalimar whispered.

            Adam was already running scans. "I honestly don't know."

*****

            When Jesse woke up, he felt like he was in a soft drifting cloud, the floor underneath him was soft, and something on top of him was soft too. He opened his eyes, the fuzzy feeling on the after-effects of a drug clouding his vision. He moved his hands but they were stuck together. The cold metal against his wrist confirmed that it was cuffs. He blinked, trying to clear his vision unsuccessfully.

            "Easy now. Easy. Look at me. Look at me."

            Jesse followed the voice and his eyes met warm brown ones. He tried to focus but his eyes gave him double vision and he felt the room spin. He felt his eyes close again and he was tugged back to the dark.

            Adam pulled the blanket around Jesse tucking him in. He had never before given Jesse the tranquilizer and he would never know how Jesse will react. But he didn't think at the moment, he just grabbed it.

            "Why?" Shalimar asked.

            "Not time for him to be up," said Adam.

            Shalimar sat beside Jesse's bed and ran a hand over his soft blond hair. "Must we cuff him?" He entire being was aching to get the key and just pull the cuffs that was chafing her cub's wrists away.

            "We don't know what he'll do when he is up. Maybe he'll still be on killing us all and I don't want to hurt him in the process of stopping him." Adam replied.

            Shalimar had to admit he was right. She could never hurt Jesse and he'll probably end up killing her. She waited patiently for Jesse to wake up.


	2. remember me

**_Song Lyrics from Savage Garden "Crash and Burn."_**

*****

            When Jesse finally opened his eyes, his vision cloudy for a second, he remembered at once where he was and he bolted up from the bed into the arms of a lovely woman.

            "Shhh, it's okay. It's okay," she whispered, her hand rubbing his back. 

            Jesse was reluctant but he jerked out from her grasp anyway. "Get away from me."

            He could see the hurt reflected in her eyes and he held a moment of regret before he remembered his father's orders to kill.

            "What do you want?" he said defensively.

            Adam had pulled his chair to position in front of the boy, holding his gaze. "Are you sure you don't remember any of us here?"

            Behind him, there stood another blonde and a black-haired guy. 

            Jesse shook his head.

            "That's Brennan," Adam said.

            Brennan smiled. "Hi, big guy."

            Jesse looked disgusted. 

            "That's Emma."

            The blonde smiled a half smile, tear tracks still marking her pale cheeks. "Jess."

            Jesse sighed inwardly. How many times he had to tell these people not to call him Jesse.

            "I'm Adam."

            Duh.

            "And that's Shalimar."

            Shalimar still had a glimmer of hope that Jesse would nod and say, "Yeah. Hi, Shal." But of course he didn't.

            "I know," said Jesse sure of himself. "You are Adam Kane, he is Brennan Mulwray, she is Emma deLauro and you…" he glanced at the shocked Shalimar. "Are Shalimar Fox."

            "Is he…" Emma stammered.

            Adam looked at him in surprise. "You remember us?"

            Jesse rolled his eyes. These people were so dumb. "No, you are all in the files," he said slowly.

            "Great," Brennan mumbled.

            "The marks on your back…" Adam started.          

            "You gave them to me."

            "What?" 

            "Mutant X. Father said you captured me and did this. He told me that I lost my memory because of Mutant X and he worked long to let me have my revenge." 

            "He said that?!" Shalimar exploded.

            Jesse looked taken aback, fear highlighting his features for a second.

            "I'm sorry," Shalimar muttered sitting down again.

            Adam took a deep breath. "I just have to tell you your 'father' is lying. Mutant x is designed to help new mutants, and you can be sure that even if you turned this place upside down, you won't find a single torture chamber."

            "Why should I believe you instead of my father?" Jesse asked coldly. "He is the one who raised me."

            "You are free to explore," said Adam.

            "Are you trying to tell me that my father did this to me and sent me to kill you without any reason?"

            "He's not your father, Jesse," Adam said. "He stole you from us two months ago."

            "Stop calling me that," Jesse said reflexively. 

            "What should we call you?" Emma asked softly.

            Jesse paused. "I don't know."

            "What does he call you? You 'father', I mean." Brennan asked.

            Jesse seemed deep in thought. "I don't know." He finally said. "He never called me anything."

            "Why don't I let you call him and you ask him?" Adam asked picking up Jesse's contact device from the table.

            Jesse looked unbelieving but he accepted the device, sliding off the bed and going to a far corner, sitting down. His handcuffs made his actions awkward but he managed to punch in the button.

            The voice of an agent answered. "I want my father." Jesse said.

            "Hold on."

            A second later, Gabriel's voice answered. "Where are you?"

            "What do you call me?"

            "What?"

            "My name."

            There was a long pause. "Son."

            "Name."

            "Did you kill them?"

            "Is that all you care about?"

            "What?" Gabriel sounded aggravated. "What did they tell you?"

            "That you aren't my father."

            "That's crap! You know that don't you?"

            Shalimar snorted.

            "I don't remember."

            "It's over, Gabriel," Adam called.

            Another long pause. "Dear, dear. Adam Kane is it? I take it that he failed his mission."

            "What did you do to him?"

            "The device will self-destruct in 30 seconds."

            "You are not my father, aren't you?" Jesse whispered.

            "No. I never was."

            "You never loved me."

            "Sorry, son. A necessity." Gabriel's laughter echoed through the med-bay. The device promptly sputtered and started to give smoke. Jesse held it in his hands watching the hot flames start to lick his palm before Brennan knocked it out of his hands.

            Pulling up his knees and resting his forehead on them, Jesse started to cry.

            Fingers released the cuffs and warm arms protected him from the world and this time, he didn't pull back.

*****

**"When you feel all alone  
And the world has turned its back on you  
Give me a moment please to tame your wild wild heart  
I know you feel like the walls are closing in on you  
It's hard to find relief and people can be so cold  
When darkness is upon your door and you feel like you can't take anymore"**

Sitting by the edge of the swimming pool, Jesse watched as the water rippled and cast patterns on the surroundings. Without turning, he knew the person that had walked silently up to him was Shalimar. She was forever near him.

            She didn't say a word but joined him.

            "I'm sorry." Jesse finally said.

            "For what?" Shalimar said.

            "I don't know. Just felt I should say it."

            "Whatever it is for, I accept it."

            "Thank you."

**"Let me be the one you call  
If you jump I'll break your fall  
Lift you up and fly away with you into the night  
If you need to fall apart  
I can mend a broken heart  
If you need to crash then crash and burn  
You're not alone"**

            "I just wanted him to love me."

            Shalimar glanced at Jesse but couldn't find any expression nor tears. She found herself wishing that she could heal his pain, protect him from the world. Just hold him in her hands, watch his baby blue eyes light up with happiness and joy.

            "You don't need him to love you."

            Jesse looked at her. "Right. I don't need anyone's love."

            "No. You have my love. You have Adam's love. You have Brennan's love and you have Emma's love. They all belong to you."

            "But I don't know who you are."

**"When you feel all alone  
And a loyal friend is hard to find  
You're caught in a one way street  
With the monsters in your head  
When hopes and dreams are far away and  
You feel like you can't face the day"**

            "It's okay. I'll help you remember. We'll start all over again."

            Jesse glanced back to the swimming pool away from Shalimar's gaze. "What did you say my name was?"

            "Jesse Kilmartin."

            "And this place is…"

            "The Sanctuary."

            "The large transport thing?"

            "Double Helix."

            "The one where you have that cool stimulated agents?"

            Shalimar smiled. "Dojo."

**"And there has always been heartache and pain  
And when it's over you'll breathe again  
You'll breathe again"**

            Jesse turned to Shalimar. "Hi, my name is Jesse Kilmartin."

            Shalimar's face broke into a smile. "Shalimar Fox."

**"Let me be the one you call  
If you jump I'll break your fall  
Lift you up and fly away with you into the night  
If you need to fall apart  
I can mend a broken heart  
If you need to crash then crash and burn  
You're not alone"**

_______________________

**END**  
  


Shall I do a sequel?:)


End file.
